With regard to receptor signaling, it is known that when a cell receives a ligand at the receptor on the cell membrane, a signal is transmitted into the cell, whereby differentiation and growth of the cell are controlled. By the acceptance of a signaling molecule, the cell is capable of recognizing the surrounding environment and situation.
c-Met is a tyrosine kinase HGF receptor, and a hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a ligand of c-Met. When HGF binds to c-Met, a dimer of c-Met is formed, a c-Met intracellular domain is phosphorylated, and therefore intracellular signaling is initiated. The binding of c-Met to HGF leads to activation of c-Met.
The activation of c-Met is known to result in growth and differentiation induction of hepatocytes. In addition, it has been pointed out that abnormal enhancement of c-Met signaling is involved in the metastasis of cancer cells (Non-Patent Document 1). Accordingly, there has been a need for a molecular tool capable of controlling the c-Met activity.